Senior Gardener

This role requires a talented Senior Gardener, who’s ready to develop their career working for a prestigious company, managing exceptionally beautiful domestic and estate gardens in Oxfordshire. Providing nurturing care and development to our portfolio of beautiful town and country gardens, including estate gardens of particular historic note.

You will need to demonstrate a passion for horticulture and plants combined with an RHS level qualification or similar, ability to lead a small team and provide excellent customer service skills. Specific skills required for the role are good professional gardening experience with excellent plant knowledge and in-depth understanding of year-round garden management.

As this is a Senior Gardener role you should have experience leading a small team and demonstrate the ability to effectively manage all gardens under your responsibility and develop excellent working relationships with clients so that their requirements are met and the gardens developed to the client’s satisfaction.

This is a role in a progressive team so if you’re buzzing with energy, the drive to get things done, an eye for detail as well as a wider, long-term view of the gardens you care for; if you strive for excellence and efficiency in horticulture and garden care, you love working in the serenity of nature, but have career goals and a gift for providing customers with excellent levels of service. If you’ve got all that going on then you’re just who we’re looking for. 

Key Duties:

• Managing all stock and equipment levels, ensuring that high-usage items are always available and that all equipment is well-maintained and kept in good working order.
• Liaising with the office coordinator on ordering stock and replenishing equipment, where needed. 
• Providing weekly stock & equipment reports to the Horticultural Maintenance Manager.
• Providing weekly activity reports to the Horticultural Maintenance Manager, detailing developments or issues in gardens across the portfolio. 
• Driving garden development across the portfolio, ensuring that any tasks reported or requested are actioned as soon as possible and, where appropriate, suggesting to your own clients additional project work and services available, as well as working with the wider team to ensure that they are confident in doing so too.  
• Providing guidance, training, advice and direction to other members of the team in order to further their own development. 
• Identifying and researching appropriate training courses that would benefit team members and add value to the business.  

Essential Skills & Qualifications:

• A recognised horticultural qualification to RHS Level 2 standard or equivalent experience
• Confidence to provide appraisals of the garden and advise clients
• Have proven practical gardening/horticulture experience, as well as a strong knowledge of plants
• Competence with machinery/equipment used as required for Health and Safety compliance.
• Motivation & pride in maintaining a consistently high standard of work
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent time management
• Experience leading small teams
• PA1 & PA6 Spraying Licences
• Comfortable with use of mobile technology for field-based reporting and general communication apps 
• Experience in implementing soft landscaping projects, such as installing new planting schemes or planning sympathetic additions to existing planted areas. 

Beneficial: 

• Experience managing kitchen gardens or similar productive gardens including selection of varieties, crop rotation, extension and maximisation of fresh produce availability.
• Experience managing cutting gardens or similar productive gardens including selection of varieties, extension and maximisation of fresh bloom availability.

Desirable:

• C1+E Drivers Licence 

Benefits:

• External and in-house training
• Development plans tailored to your specific areas of specialism, interest and development goals.
• 30 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays (rising by 1 day each year after 3 years service to a maximum of 33 days) 
• Pension
• Company uniform and annual allowance
• Wellbeing & Rewards Programme

Application Process

If you'd like to apply for this role please click the "Apply Now" button which require your full name, CV and covering letter.